South Korea’s spy agency now believes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s teenage daughter has been designated as his successor, lawmakers said Monday, citing a recent public display of her driving a tank that was likely intended to quell any doubts about her status.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers its assessment was not based on circumstantial inference but on what it described as "credible intelligence" collected by the agency, according to briefings by ruling and opposition party members after a closed-door parliamentary meeting.
The NIS said the imagery of the daughter driving a tank was intended to highlight her supposed military aptitude and dispel doubts over a female heir, lawmakers said.
North Korea's state-run media KCNA last month published photos of Kim and his daughter driving a new tank, following earlier images showing her firing a rifle at a shooting range and using a handgun.
Such scenes are intended to pay "homage" to Kim's own public military appearances during the early 2010s, when he was being prepared to succeed his own father, ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Park Sun-won said.
